No labels, no guru, no method, no teacher
By 
The other prominent ratfucking operation of this election cycle, ostensibly coming from a different part of the ideological spectrum than bitter, narcissistic has-been Cornel West but sharing the same goal of electing Donald Trump, is NO LABELS (aka Make Mark Penn Great Again.) It has released a “platform” which is exactly what you’d expect.
On the crucial issue of abortion, the party is fearlessly willing to print some words next to other words:
If the abortion plank in your party platform describes public policy both before *and* after Dobbs, it just might be a tad vague. https://t.co/u885zD3lAV— Seth Masket (@smotus) July 15, 2023
This is a man’s-man Radical Centrist party that cannot be distracted by such petty concerns as reproductive autonomy. They have bigger grannies to starve:
"We must come together in a moderate, bipartisan fashion to enact savage cuts to the most popular federal social program," the heart of each and every cynical "centrist" ratfucking racket pic.twitter.com/fMc2dQgOdQ— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 15, 2023
This is what these No Labels/Unity 08121620/Politico Primary/Lieberman for Connecticut rackets always come down to: the problem with the two-party system is that they won’t enact spending cuts that are a bad idea on the merits and that have no mass constituency. These are people who almost literally worship at the altar of Bowles and Simpson:
"Oh, your nostalgia file. Oh great. That's great, cause you know my grandma doesn't have to eat this month" pic.twitter.com/qgvxAED78k— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 15, 2023
Their big “New” Idea is “forming a deficit reduction plan that Congress would have to vote on in its entirety, meaning members of Congress could not offer amendments to change it.” Even if the presentment clause could be successfully repealed and Congress forced by the executive branch to vote on something whether they want to or not, it’s hilarious that they seem to think such a vote would come out in their favor, although they’ve already acknowledged that these ideas have no mass constituency in either party. (And this is before we get to the issue that neither party would have the slightest incentive to help a No Labels president accomplish anything.) I see no flaws in this plan.
Incidentally, this bears some resemblance to their plan on immigration, which is Barack Obama’s policy, but House Republicans will totally vote for it this time because [guy farting at RFK’s fundraiser.]
The bold, innovative ideas don’t stop there! On healthcare, they take a time machine back to “let them be healed by tort reform.” And while cutting the deficit is important, it must be done while shoveling even more money into America’s already bloated defense budget:
To be clear, when No Labels says we need to balance the budget, it's clear that this must be done while INCREASING defense spending. It's literally just Paul Ryan's platform with some additional blather about bipartisan comity pic.twitter.com/yP9Xwl6CVv— Scott Lemieux (@LemieuxLGM) July 15, 2023
Upper-class tax cuts and increases to defense spending can be compatible with a balanced budget because Waste, Fraud and Abuse will be eliminated. Incredibly cutting edge stuff here, if you’ve never heard Newt Gingrich speak before!
I will give them credit for one thing, and one thing only: unlike the Greens, these guys come as they are. If neither party will give them exactly what they want, Republicans will deliver arbitrary domestic spending cuts while increasing their disposable income, and that’s good enough.